• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Site Directory
  • Home
  • Alex’s Lounge
  • P.O.U. Health and Fitness
  • POU Comments of the Week
  • P.O.U. Daily Link Sweep
Pragmatic Obots Unite

Pragmatic Obots Unite

Shooting down firebaggers & teabaggers one truth at a time...

Thurday Open Thread: African American Trailblazers (NBA)

May 17, 2012 by Miranda 127 Comments

Good morning Obots!

Lenny Wilkens is today’s African American NBA trailblazer.

Lenny Wilkens is a former NBA player and the leagues’ second all-time winningest coach. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a professional player (1989) and twice as a coach (1998) (2010). Wilkins is the only NBA representative listed among both the all-time top 50 players and top 10 coaches.

As a player, Wilkens was a nine-time NBA All-Star team member and Most Valuable Player in 1971. With Seattle, he led the league in assists in the 1969–70 season, and at the time of his retirement, Wilkens was the NBA’s second all-time leading playmaker (assists), behind only Oscar Robertson. He scored 17,772 points during the regular season.

 Wilkens was one of the most successful coaches in franchise history for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, and Seattle SuperSonics. Despite his many NBA honors, one of his proudest moments was coaching the United States “Dream Team II” to a gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. He also was assistant coach of “Dream Team I” in 1992.

Beyond his many successes on the court, Lenny has received Honorary Doctorate degrees from Providence College, St. Francis College, and Seattle University. He served as vice chairman of the Seattle SuperSonics ownership group in 2007. He is the founder of The Lenny Wilkens Foundation, which funds organizations that deliver healthcare and education services to young people while honoring their dignity and sense of self-respect.

US President Barack Obama waves as he arrives for a campaign fundraiser after he was introduced by Bill Russell (L) and Lenny Wilkens (R) on September 25, 2011 at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Washington.

Filed Under: Open Thread Tagged With: African American Trailblazers, Lenny Wilkens, NBA

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • People
  • Recent
  • Popular

Top Commenters

  • GreenLadyHere13
     · 222116 posts
  • Alma98
     · 206452 posts
  • rikyrah
     · 182245 posts
  • nellcote
     · 100508 posts

Recent Comments

  • PurpleShoesLA

    1a. Heauxtus smooched all up on Gavin with a big smile when she accompanied the Citrus one to LA 5 months ago to 'inspect" the damage after the wildfires. 1b. Gavin bested Citrus at his...

    Monday Open Thread: Historic Black Resorts and Beaches · 5 hours ago

  • conlakappa

    Or picking up money from foreigners! Remember when their was always outrage on where Barack Obama vacationed? I hard-checked someone who didn't know Charlotte Amalie was a U.S. address. Cokie...

    Monday Open Thread: Historic Black Resorts and Beaches · 6 hours ago

  • Alma98

    hahahahaha!

    Monday Open Thread: Historic Black Resorts and Beaches · 6 hours ago

  • Alma98

    Really? 😯 Well now.

    Monday Open Thread: Historic Black Resorts and Beaches · 6 hours ago

Most Discussed

  • Monday Open Thread: Historic Black Resorts and Beaches

    188 comments · 5 hours ago

  • Sunday Open Thread: POU Movie Day – Man On Fire

    122 comments · 1 day ago

  • Friday Open Thread: Well…Sometimes It Be Ya Own People 

    246 comments · 3 days ago

  • Saturday Open Thread: Well…Sometimes It Be Ya Own People

    105 comments · 2 days ago

Powered by Disqus

Twitter

Tweets by @PragObots

Recent Posts

  • Monday Open Thread: Historic Black Resorts and Beaches
  • Sunday Open Thread: POU Movie Day – Man On Fire
  • Saturday Open Thread: Well…Sometimes It Be Ya Own People
  • Friday Open Thread: Well…Sometimes It Be Ya Own People 
  • Thursday Open Thread: Well…Sometimes It Be Ya Own People

Tags

#HTGAWM #TGIT African American History African History Black History Civil Rights Movement Divas Forward Friday Open Thread Funk Grammy Winners Great Bands Hip-Hop How To Get Away With Murder Jazz Kerry Washington Legends Monday Open Thread Motown Records NFL Obama Biden 2012 Olivia Pope Open Thread P.O.U. Sunday Jazz Brunch POU Weekly NFL Picks President Barack H. Obama President Barack Obama President Obama R&B racism Rap Saturday Open Thread Scandal Shondaland Shonda Rhimes slavery Songwriters Soul Sports Sunday Open Thread Thursday Open Thread Tuesday Open Thread Video Viola Davis Wednesday Open Thread

Footer

A-F

  • African American Pundit
  • Afrospear
  • All About Race
  • Angry Black Lady Chronicles
  • AverageBro.com
  • Black Politics on the Web
  • Blacks 4 Barack
  • Blue Wave News
  • Brown Man Thinking Hard
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Democracy Now!
  • Democrats for Progress
  • Eclectablog
  • Extreme Liberal's Blog
  • FactCheck.org
  • Field Negro
  • FiveThirtyEight

G-S

  • GrannyStandingforTruth
  • Hello, Negro
  • Jack & Jill Politics
  • Latino Politico
  • Margaret and Helen
  • Melissa Harris Perry
  • Michelle Obama Watch
  • Mirror On America
  • Momma, here come that woman again!
  • New Black Woman
  • Obama Foodorama
  • Obama for America 2012
  • Positively Barack
  • Raving Black Lunatic
  • Sheryl Kaye's Blog
  • Sojourner's Place
  • Stuff White People Do

T-Z

  • Talking Points Memo
  • The Black Snob Feed
  • The Field
  • The Hill
  • The Mudflats
  • The Obama Diary
  • The only adult in the room
  • The Peoples View
  • The Reid Report
  • The Rude Pundit
  • The Starting Five
  • ThinkProgress
  • This Week in Blackness
  • Tim Wise
  • Uppity Negro Network
  • What About Our Daughters
  • White House Blog
  • Womanist Musings

Copyright © 2025 · Log in